Blind Man And His Armless Friend Spend 10 Years Planting 10,000 Trees In China

On this day, full of bleak news, it's nice to come across a tale that can bring a bit of cheer. While skimming various sites this morning I came across this link, and in amongst all the horrific events unfolding, it's nice to find some good news.

www.mymodernmet.com...

Looking at the lush, green, tree-filled stretch of land north of the Yeli Village in Sunzhuang Township, Jingxing County, Hebei, China, it's hard to imagine that just 12 years ago, those plains were filled with nothing but rocks and weeds. This miraculous transformation is all thanks to the hard work and dedication of an elderly blind man named Jia Haixia and his friend Jia Wenqi, a double amputee with no arms. For more than 10 years, the duo have been planting thousands of trees in an effort to protect and preserve the natural ecology of the land surrounding their village.

53-year-old Haixia was born with congenital cataracts that left his left eye blind. Then, in 2000, he lost his other eye in an accident at work, leaving him completely without sight. Wenqi, also 53, lost both his arms in an accident when he was just 3 years old. After Haixia became fully blind, the two friends were having trouble securing jobs, so they decided to lease over eight acres of land near the riverbank from the local government with the goal of planting trees for future generations. While working towards this noble objective, Haixia and Wenqi have also been able to help protect their village from flooding, while also earning a modest income from government funding.

Partnership working: Blind Mr Haixa scales a tree with the help of Mr Wenqi, so that he can find fresh cuttings to plant in the ground



It's very easy to bemoan the state of the world, and it is a lot harder to do something about it, but these two men defying seemingly insurmountable odds have done something inspiring. Alone, they would have been unable to do any of this, but together they have done something truly worth paying attention to. Hopefully others may read this tale to in these dark days full of division, and also do something positive.

Cool. It would be awesome if they were trees that made fruit.

This story brought tears to my eyes. Something about this friendship and what they have managed to do with one another's help is so heart warming.
Thank you cuckooold for the touching story in these dark times.

a reply to: cuckooold

Beautiful story. It sometimes seems that life is like a story being written and these two men have found themselves in a parable...or a Zen kōan.

As a parable, there must be something here that teaches about cooperation and that people together can be a sum greater than their individual parts.

a reply to: peppycat

I too, shed a tear. I'd do anything to have the relationship they share with a fellow human being.

This world would be a much better place if we all had a friend that helped us to raise to a cause greater than ourselves, encourage future generations rather than condemn them, and help the earth flourish instead of crumble...

To those who say "no hope", you're wrong.

a reply to: seaswine
few tears here too

If everyone could do this, replant a tree.. It would make everyone happy, when you have a child buy a tree let it grow with the child..

Things like this makes my hope for a better future, and then i look out my window

a reply to: Kandinsky

Cheers Kandinsky. I found this article which gives a little more detail;


www.theglobeandmail.com...

“Our tree planting may not have much substantial benefit for the present generation, but it leaves a green environment to the next one,” Haixi said. “We are physically disabled but mentally healthy. We have this big dream in our heart to leave a stretch of green to our children.”

I've been finding some of the news of late a bit difficult to process, so this provides a slight breather from the continual barrage of news and forum threads about other less pleasant topics.